The Gremlins must have got this lot, maybe what Verity was on about. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23391082-details/200,000+asylum+seekers+to+get+amnesty/article.do There's also this, just a dribble by their standards, I suppose.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7111290.stm

The problem, in case after case after case, is bad management by ministers (not setting data protection as a top priority, not telling boffins to build data protection into new computer systems). That's entirely different from "the state does things badly so it should do as little as humanly possible." That only makes sense if no bad management (Northern Rock, Enron) exists in the private sector, and that alternative political leadership would make the same bone-head decisions.

Scott, when 'bad management by ministers' recurs again and again, it's time to stop hoping for better management from ministers, recognise that they are and will be in general very poor managers indeed, and reduce the damage done by taking as much as possible out of the hands of government, and back in to the hands of the people.

This DVLA nonsense: you don't put it in the "hands of the people" -- to ensure nationwide standards of driving, someone has to test candidates and someone has to process the information. Taking it out of the public sector means putting it into the hands of the private sector. And the private sector has screwed up in this case just as efficiently as the public sector.

Scott Redding - I am searching for caveats on your behalf, but your post seems to be stupid.

"This DVLA nonsense:" (pretend to minimalise the problem. What problem?

"Taking it out of the public sector means putting it into the hands of the private sector." And,in this case, also out of the country.

Why?

"And the private sector has screwed up in this case just as efficiently as the public sector."

Directed by whom? Who chose this mad path?

Americans drive on the right and they aren't as prissy and uppity about driver's licences. Kids who live in the country and need a car to get to school can get a licence at age 14.

In fact, in the US, you go down, take a number, do your test - I failed my first test on parallel parking - and if you pass, you walk out with a driver's license. I went back the next day, took a number and passed.

Why are the authoritiarian, "driving is a privilege not a right" outsourcing licences to the freest, most enabling country in the world?